Pretty Face by Mary Hogan

Title: Pretty Face
Author: Mary Hogan
Publisher: Harper Teen (March 24, 2009)
Length: 224 pages
Source: Hastings store
Edition: paperback

From the Back of the Book:

Hayley has such a pretty face...
      Translation: Don't even think about putting on a bikini, much less flirting wiht super-hot Drew Wyler. A bikini  will never be flattering, and Drew will never think of Hayley as more than a friend.
      Just When Hayley feels doomed to live in the fat lane, her parents decide to send her to Italy for the summer. It's there, under the Italian sun, that Hayley's vision of herself starts to change. She's curvy, not fat. Pizza isn't evil. And life is so much more than one-size-fits-all. Who knows? Once Hayley sees herself in a new light, maybe the girl with the pretty face will finally find true amore.
My Thoughts:

This is a book about a teenage girl learning to accept herself. Plain and simple. She goes over to another country that allows her to be her self and when she does she changes for the better. A lot of girls will relate to Hayley on her body image issues. How many times have you heard someone say oh she has such a pretty face? It kind of made me think on exactly what that means. On this level I really liked the book. However, this is one story in which I wasn't a big fan of the romance and I can't exactly put my finger on why. Maybe it was the fact that they moved too fast. I just don't know. Pretty Face is also a very short book at just shy of 230 pages. The ending was a little rushed for me and I thought that it could have been fleshed out a little better. I'm still not exactly sure what happened. As for the setting of the book...it's Italy! Mary Hogan did a wonderful job of describing the culture, scenery, and food of Italy. I know I wished I was there.  I recommend this book to girls who have ever had body image concerns. This book get a 3 STAR rating.

The Pretty One by Cheryl Klam

The Pretty ONe by Cheryl Klam

     Megan has always been the ugly duckling compared to her sister the star. She is chubby where her sister is model thin, has crooked teeth, and just all around incomparable to her sister. They have always been close, loving, and supportive even if Megan did have to take the back seat. One night everything changes. Megan overhears something awful and a tragic accident follows. Megan finally gets what she has always dreamed of, and in the process she learns that being pretty doesn't make for a smooth and charmed life. When all is said and done will she still have friends? Will she still feel like the ugly duckling? Will she still have a sister? No matter what you look like everyone deals with problems.

      This was a good book, but completely unrealistic. (Not that that is necessarily a bad thing)I did find it entertaining though. What is the chance of something like this actually happening? The one thing this book got accurate though, is the spiteful and fickleness of people. People will always feel like someone else’s life is better than theirs, and if they could be like them everything would be amazing. When you get used to being the best it’s hard to accept and share the attention when someone else comes along. I think the true message of this book is nobody’s life is perfect. We only get to see what they show us, not what goes on behind the scenes. I give this book a 3 ½ STAR rating.

***The Pretty One Extras***

The Pretty One by Cheryl Klam has approximately 368 pages and was published on April 8, 2008 by Delacorte Books For Young Readers.